Betrayals (Black Cipher Files series Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

mission for de-mining.” Frank snorted. “The land mines have been there for years. It’s not like they’re going anywhere.”
    Jordan had nearly had a heart attack when he realized which region of Afghanistan she was in. Supposedly she truly had been on a humanitarian mission. But the enormity of her previous lies, omissions really, had made it impossible for him to believe her.
    He’d been keeping tabs on Afghanistan ever since he found out she was going, surreptitiously reading the hourly updates his office received from the government’s shared intelligence network, Intelink.
    He’d seen the carefully worded communiqué, a capture report that detailed the woman, her general description, the request for ransom from the Afghan warlords who oversaw the prison, and the known methods of torture they employed. And he feared it was Staci. He'd tried multiple times to contact her by email without success.
    When he couldn't get hold of her, he was certain she was the woman in the report. He’d wanted to grab the first transport to Kabul armed with his Remington M24SWS sniper rifle and the intelligence to get her out.
    Instead, he had assumed she would be quietly liberated and returned to the U.S. by the CIA. Because that's what the CIA did, they protected their own.
    Dammit, he should have done more. But Jordan no longer did hostage rescue for the FBI. He didn't have the clearance or the manpower to get her out of that prison anymore.
    Now he worked the other side, for the Franklin Group, a highly distinguished, well-connected think tank. Trying to anticipate problems before they happened. Analyzing data and generating reports to prevent this kind of incident from occurring. Advising the military, the government, anyone who would listen about the motives and operations of their enemies or even allies, and the possible repercussions of any U.S. actions.
    He’d retired his ghillie suit and rifle in favor of thousand-dollar Hugo Boss and the weapon of knowledge. Now he was trying to protect and prevent, rather than react to, threats.
    Most days, it worked for him.
    But not today. Dios , not today.
    Right now, his inability to act chafed. The need to be there, to be able to bring her body, Jesus, her body, home, was like acid burning in his gut. The carvings cut into the skin on his palm as he clenched her amulet too tightly.
    Jordan couldn’t claim her even in death.
    Initially they’d kept their relationship private. He’d almost gotten to the point where he thought maybe she was ashamed of him, of their relationship. Of course when he’d discovered she was CIA, her refusal made a lot more sense. And he couldn't jeopardize her memory or her standing at the CIA by acknowledging their relationship now.
    It was a forbidden, opposite attraction because while their views on just about everything matched, their methods of solving problems contradicted on many levels. Yet, their passion for each other had overruled and overcome all the reasons why they shouldn’t be together.
    She couldn’t be dead.
    How would he live without her?
    He forced his throat muscles to relax before he spoke again. “Are they sure it’s her?”
    Frank shrugged. “Positive I.D.”
    Frank didn’t care, didn’t know, that Jordan’s world had just imploded.
    "The prison riot is being heavily covered by the press. It's only a matter of time before they figure out one of the dead prisoners is American. The guys on the Hill are freaking out."
    “What kind of response do the politicians want?”
    “They want a solid position on why this isn’t our government’s fault.” Frank ambled toward the coffee pot on the granite counter. “Senator Jordan of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence sent out the high-level transmission request. They’d like to keep it quiet as long as they can and get their ducks in a row.”
    Senator Jordan and his committee. Wasn’t that just the fucking icing on his personal hell cupcake?
    “Of course they want to